Hi everyone.I have been trying to get some info on body/hand polarity, but every time I ask, it seems that people just want to argue about whether it works or not. Before we get to that, here is my question: Is there any agreement on what parts of the hand/body are SAID to be positive (yang) or negative (yin):1. Right fist (male): Positive or negative?2. Right palm (male): Postive or negative?3. Left side of body (male): Positive or negative?Any answers to what the theory says these are would be great, BEFORE getting into whether it works...

In all honesty, I've never heard of this concept before. I have heard of yin and yang organs or compass directions before, but never in terms of sides of the body. However, if I was to guess, I suppose that your yang side would be your active side (so if you are right handed, that might be you're yang side), while you're yin side would be your weaker, less active side. Why do you ask?

--Chris

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"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."--Basho

Thanks Chris. I had read that you need to strike the yang side with a yin weapon and vice versa, but could find no agreement on which is which. Anyone who knows, even if they don't agree, it would be a help if you could clear it up...

I've heard plenty of talk about this amongst some of the pressure point and some talk of polarity but nothing I can recall being of any use. Within TCM there are divisions of yin and yang within the body... there is a table on this page and its been a while since I did my exams on this stuff so I'm a bit hazy now.

Within tai chi that is a lot of emphasis placed on yin and yang shapes within the body and in the arms. For example aun is yang and peng is yin and these principles can be explored extensively in the push hands lessons from the section of Yang Cheng Fu's long form called grasp sparrows tail.

I don't believe polarity has anything to do with heart location since it is all reversed for females.

Anything to do with polarity in an actual confrontation is pretty because of the foot positions and other dynamics of motion, which will reverse polarity. For example, a male striking a male with a right fist to the left jaw, needs to raise his heel. That would assume that the opponent didn't also have a foot off the ground. There is too much going on and you can't attend to all of it so in my opinion, knowing the polarities, and I used to obsess about them as a beginner, is a trivial advantage easily overcome by hitting a little harder.

On the other hand, the theory is interesting. Nothing you learn is ever for nothing.

as for polarity,it is hard to say,some people care about it,but some people think it a lot,in china,as all people know that kung fung is famous in china,cos china has a long history .some ancient people like martial arts,just cuz it can cure many diseases..

For example, a male striking a male with a right fist to the left jaw, needs to raise his heel.

I have to ask where you got that information from? Raising the heel will destroy the stability of the stance and seriously limit the amount of power that could be applied unless you're talking about a cat stance and raising the front heel. But then again if your attacker grabbed your arm and pulled then having your front heel in the air will limit your ability to resist the pull. You're right in saying that in true combat there is no time to think about what the polarity of every move is, even assuming you had the information and it worked. I;m sure there are many more important things to focus your attention and training on.

If you believe this to be important could you let us know why you think so and point to some information somewhere so that we can also check it out. thanks

I suppose looking loosely at it from a tai chi point of view the lifting of the heel, if the stance is posturally sound, would cause the weight to shift to the other leg. So the rooted leg becomes more weighted (yang) and the leg with the heel raised would become more unweighted (yin) but how that would make any difference when hitting a male or female I have absolutely no idea. Like I said this is looking at it very loosely... Rosanne could you elaborate further. Is this a purely 'energetic' difference or is there some biomechanical advantage and reason why this would effect the strike differently between genders?

My reply had nothing to do with the technique, style, utility, practicality, or anything like that. My reply was ONLY to the polarity, which is what I thought the thread starter question was about. Personally, I pay little attention to polarity when I am training. I only pay attention to it when I am doing isolated energy exercises. There is a difference between what is theoretically possible and interesting, and knowledge for it's own sake vs information that you can use.

Raising a heel, or going to a cat stance will unground you and change the polarity. In the above striking example, if you want to keep both feet completely on the floor and somehow you know that uke also has both feet completely on the floor, then hit with the palm, instead of the fist, which is the opposite polarity.

Now since everyone is in constant motion, stepping sliding etc. you can see how little an awareness of the polarity will contribute to your technique. However, to each his own, and certainly if a person has really developed this skill, then he has my respect and I wouldn't begin to tell someone else how to fight. It isn't for me. I doubt I will ever have the skill to keep track of polarity in anything approaching the speed needed for fighting.